Update​

2016 is a learning year. I’ve begun two projects that are new forms of writing to me. One is a novella that will convert nicely into a screenplay at a later date. The other project is a screenplay.

The novella, working title: AGAMEX, has a science fiction type inciting incident, but the story is mostly about the fallout of changed human behavior that results. It is a humorous look at humanity and how a single change of behavior can set the world on edge. I can’t say much about it because the general plot scheme could be too easily borrowed when overheard in innocent conversation. It’s a good premise, but simple and too easily imitated. I will look to publish and/or serialize it when finished.

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The second project is a screenplay. Prohibition era mid-west. We begin by seeing a cheerful sixteen year old boy peering outside over a window sill. He has a contagious, mirthful smile as he looks through the frosted pane. He opens the window a few inches and spills out some seeds onto the outer sill. As he re-closes the window his breath ices up the glass and he clears it a bit with his pajama sleeve just in time to rejoice at the little birds that come and eat the seeds.Soon after, we see the high school coach at his desk in the office beneath the bleachers (BTW, this is not a sports movie). He’s early for school and is relaxing and gathering his thoughts, guiltily sneaking a smoke of a half cigarette and thumbing through a small stack of polite rejection letters from college athletic departments. He is disturbed by unfamiliar clacking sounds that seem to rhythmically accompany footsteps.

In a moment we see the cheerful lad in the coach’s doorway, wearing leg braces and holding the crutches of a young polio victim. Pinched between his thumb and the crutch is the completed application for the post of assistant to the track team. In conversation the coach tries to dissuade him based on the physicality required for assisting the team with equipment and towels, and traveling to track meets between the many small mid-west country towns. After the boy persists, the coach agrees to think it over. When the boy leaves, he tosses the application into the waste paper basket. After a moment of trying to lean back in his chair and return to his thoughts and dreams, he gets up and looks after the young boy that is conveying his body away with an awkward straining gait. By the look of quizzical amazement, and the hint of admiration on his face, we know that the coach will retrieve the paper he discarded.

From 2015

THE ADMIRABLE ATHEIST

Our main character is Axel Coopersmith, a single father of a first grade daughter and a hard working EMT. Though Axel has been an atheist for some years and is secure in his non-belief, he is recently troubled by dreams that include Jesus, his childhood guardian angel (a mash-up of professional wrestlers and the Fonz), Santa Claus and others. His odd dreams may have been brought on by the tough decision he has made to send his daughter, Genevieve, to a Catholic School ( the public school is unsafe).

Axel would love to keep a low profile on the subject of religion and his personal non participation in it. He also wants to protect his daughter from any heavy handed indoctrination. There’s no way to escape the mine field. He meets a single mother of a first grade boy and clumsily pursues a romantic union with her, while he tries to negotiate her cafeteria Catholicism. Signs of his non conformity to his new environment seep out. His gay neighbor/sometimes baby sitter is discovered by uptight moralists of the school community. The suspiciously philosophical and open minded Monsignor takes an interest in probing Axel’s views, in a cat and mouse sort of way. Perhaps, the semi-retired Monsignor wants to confess his own evolving ambivalence toward his church. Axel’s daughter seeks explanations for the iconography and statuary that she sees in her new surroundings, and becomes curious about attending mass. All this time, Axel must cope with his “party hearty” co-worker friend, Pete, and tend to the needs of his patients during his shift with the ambulance service.

THE ORIGIN OF THE SACRIFICE - A PLAY/PILOT

Three scheming high priests and their equally duplicitous Shaman advisor, plot to fleece the faithful masses of their wealth through religious chicanery. They also contrive a way to coerce young virgins into having carnal knowledge with them. A morality tale of the best laid plans and the wages of sin.

Thank you for your interest. I hope you will visit again. As before, the author seeks established representation for the promotion of writing projects, and for staffing opportunities.

Cheers,

Don Hauser

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